more difficult to estimate as we usually start from commercial dry straw.

1. '
It seems better to me to estimate the efficiency ;
e) kg. per year per m3 contents of the mushroom house. If there is of 1
a room for peak-heating, a certain percentage (25 - 33 % ) according to th e to p
period of use of this room , is to be added to the size of the growing house.
I hope you agree that it is important to make some arrangements
with regard to the classification and es timation of th e production costs 2. '
of mushroom growing, to get a suitable international exchange of the
data. ( 0 -
Institute of Horticultural Engineering, Wageningen.

3. J

Literature
di sti
(1) J.F. BASTIEN. La Nouvelle Maison Rustique, Paris, Tome II : 358-362, 1798.
4. '
(2) P.J. BELS. A comparison of mushroom culture, Mushroom Science I : 9-19,
1950.
(3) R.L. EDWARDS. Costs and profits significant analysis, M.G.A. Bulletin 30 :
166-169, 1952.
(4) R.L .O. JACKSON. Mushroom Growing, English University Press, London
(1950), VIII + 103 pp. buil
(s) E.B. LAMBERT. Mushroom growing in the United States, U .S . Dept. of
Agr. Farm Bulletin 1975, 38 pp., 1941.

Cor

Resume

L'usage de nouvelles techniques permet a la culture des champi-

gnons de s'etendre de plus en plus, soit en climat tempere froid (meilleur
chauffage, isolation) , soit en climat chaud (refrigeration, conditionnemenl hea
d'air). rool
L'auteur souligne !'importance de differentes methodes de construc-
tion et a etabli une comparaison des frais de production pour divers
modes de culture en Angleterre et en Hollande. whi
II suggere, pour permettre de comparer la production et le rende-
ment des cultures. d'utiliser un e mem e unite d e base, par exemple le cau
kg ./ m3/an.
ma1

Ins
AIR CONDITIONING OF MUSHROOMHOUSES

P.A. SPOELSTRA cau

equ
The climate requirements on which we have to work in the Nether-
lands. to construct and to equip a mushroomhouse. can be recapitulated
as follows :

11 2 8
;traw. L The temperature of the air
The whole year round th e rooms must have an equable tem perature
ere is of 15 - 55° C. (55 ° C. sweating out process). In the Netherlands we have
:o the lo prov ide for an outside temperature of about - 10° C. in winter a nd
tOUSe. + 30° C. in summer.
nents
costs 2. The humidity of the air
f the In the rooms th e relative humidity of the air must b e equabl e
(80-90 %).
<ingen.

3. Fresh air supply (ventilation)

The supply of fresh air must be accura tely controllable a nd th e
di stribution of fresh air over the room equ a bl e.
1798.
9-19,
4. The velocity of the air
The velocity of th e air must b e limite d in such a way that no
n 30:
unwa nted drying up of manure , casing soil and mushrooms takes place.
ondon In order to get a definite climate w e have to remembe r that th e
buildin g co n struction as well as th e equipme nt is important.
pt. of

Construction of the building ·

Figure I shows that :
1. In wintertime w e have a hea t-flow from inside to outside. The
maximum difference of temperature between inside and outside is about
.mpi- 65° c.
lleur 2. In summertime there is a heat-flow from outside to in side. This
menl heat-flow is greater if the sun's radiation is on the wall or on th e
roof.
truc- The difference of temperature in summertime is about 15 - 30° C.
ivers 3. The con struction is subject to large variations of temperature.
w hich create large tensions in th e build in g materials.
nde- Soon we get cracks in walls and ce iling a nd loss of moisture which
e le causes drying up of manure and so on.
\7\le can conclude that it is necessary lo use resistant building
materials under the circumstances above m e ntione d.

Insulation of the building (fig . 2)

The walls, ceiling and floor must be suffi c iently insulated, b e-
cause we get otherwise :
t. Too la rge a heat loss in winte rtim e and an expensive hea ting
equipment in u se.
:her-
2. Too large a heat intake in summert im e and an expens ive cooling
ated
equ ipment in use.

8 I 13
 Summt:r Winte:r

to
to.+

t i.+1s 0 c

Shaded-we II. Woll in the: sun

FIG · I
Surface: -tht:mpuoturc:

hig
. hcr than
- :t;.1
ti t1
Surfocc: te:mp . Surfoc«: t«:mp
above: de:w-po1n
•.o 0

V / / / / ' '- 11
~'~
lnsuflic icntly Sulfic i<ntly Wall heating .
insulate:d wa II in1ulote:d wall am
FIG : 2 e1
Humid if ica I ion . air

Fresh- ir inlet. air

Gauze: .

ro

Air -distribution duct.

H1
FIG 3

ca
j-

ea
bo

Fre:sh 4 ai~

Chon •-valve
ti t
Hot air-stove:

FIG : 4
th
it

114
 3. Conden sation on the walls a nd so on, with the difficulties of
drying up of manure, casing soil and mushrooms.
In the Ne therlands we like to construct our musluoomhouses in
suc h a way th a t the temperatures of the inside surl'ace are under the
most circumstances above the d ew-point of the air.

Loss of watervapour by diffusion

As w ell as drying by condensa tion , w e can get drying in conse-
quen ce of diffusion of wate r vapour, b ecau se the inside wate r va pour
pressure is higher than the outside va pour pressure.
Therefore it is n ecessary to treat the inside of the w a lls a nd ceilings
with a m a teria l that is w ater va pour proof.

Equipment
To m eet the climate d emands as muc h as possible , it is the best
to a pply an equipment as in principle shown in figure 3.
The different parts are labell ed .
With the change-valve it is possible to re gulate accurate ly the
amount of fr esh a ir. Th e capacity of the fa n is a lways the sam e, indepen -
d ent of th e setting of the va lve. This is important to en a ble a n equa ble
a ir-distribution unde r all circumstan ces .

Heating of one room

If th ere is only one room th en the c heapest way is to u se a hot
air stove a s shown in principle (figure 4) .
It will b e b est to place the stove outside the room lo avoid danger
from CO . dust and radiation of the stove.

Heating of more rooms

If w e h a ve more rooms with different climatic requirem e n ts. appli-
cation of a hot air stove cannot b e recommended b ecause the re gula tion
is very difficult or impossibl e.
In tha t ca se it is b ette r to u se th e sys tem a s shown in fig . 5. H ere
ea ch room has a hea t exchan ge r, fed b y hot water from a hot wate r
boiler.

Cooling
If w e want to b e sure of avoiding too hi gh tempe ratures in summer·
time, then cooling is n ecessary.
Cooling with springwater with a temperature of about 1 1 ° C . and
the a pplication of a heat exchanger is sufficie nt.
In the Ne therlands there is n early alwa ys enough springwater and
it is easy to get.

115
Air distribution system
The distribution of air must be equable and the velocity of the
it
air over the beds is limited because otherwise there is danger of drying
them.

al

Circulation- um·

FIG · S

Drying up

~
J.L
~
215

~ No drying up
48

No drying up .
F.IG : 6

~
,13.0, ~
I 10,4,( ! 10,0,
Ll.L©. 10,4,
No drying up Drying up .

pe1
In fig. 6 different distribution systems are shown .
The numbers give the air-velocity over the beds in cm. per second. he.
lt seems that if the speed is more than to cm . per second the growers
have difficulty with excessive drying of the beds. rie

Fans
The use of fans with the electric motor inside the air-duct, often
gives difficulties in consequence of the high humidity and high tempe -
ratures, especially if the sweating-out process is applied.
di1
Fans with the motor outside the duct are preferable.

116
 Different types of fans are shown in fig. 7.
f the In the Netherlands fans with a band are much used. They are easy
rying to install and the consumption of electricity is relatively low.

Humidification
For humidification of the air two systems are in use.
The first is with water vapour from a little boiler (fig. 8).
The second is with atomized water.
Humidification with steam is easy to install and is suitable when
there is no condensation on the walls under conditions of no or little
heat demand (summertime).

i Fana (Axial)
FIG · 7
m
Blaw•r (C<ntrifugal)

St•am to air distribution duc:t.

Wot•r•• erator.
~
watu-su

+-----== § -
§

Outl<t superfluous
Humidification b~ ~vaporation -~
boil<r. Humidification by the. otomizing of water .

FIG : 8 FIG:9

When condensation takes place under these conditions the tem-

perature is too high in consequence of the condensation-heat.
With atomized water (fig. 9) we get an extra cooling effect by the
md. heat necessary for evaporation of the water.
vers When the atomization is not sufficiently fine difficulty is expe-
rienced with settlement of the coarser water droplets.
Institute of Horticultural Engineering, Wageningen.

ft en Resume
lpl' -
La champignonniere, specialement conc;:ue pour Ia culture avec con -
ditionnement d'air, devient d'un usage de plus en plus courant.
On combat le dessechement du fumier par un isolement parfait des

117
murs, du plafond e t du sol, ernpechant toute conden sation. D e plus , la
face inte rieure d es p a rois est recouverte d ' un e substance hydrofu ge em -
pecha nt les p ertes d' eau par diffusion.
Le sys tem e d e ch a uffage par deplaccm ent d 'air chaud maintient
u ne bonn e ventila ti on e t cree une a mbi a n ce homo gen e d a n s la ch a mbre
de culture.
L' humidi fi cation d e I' air est produite par d es evaporateurs OU a to-
m iseurs d' eau .
II importe de concevoir !'ins ta llat ion de la distribution d 'a ir, d e telle
sorte q u e soit repa rti uniformem ent, d es d eplacem ents d ' a ir trop rapides
pouva nt occasionne r d es dessech em ents locaux .

api:
ORIENTATION DES RECHERCHES SUR LA CULTURE air
DU CHAMPIGNON DE COUCHE EN FRANCE: e
Contribution a l' etude des fermentations du fumier
et des transformations physico~chimiques concomitantes

J. DELMAS
pos
05
La Sta tion d' experim enta tion et d ' amelioration d e Ia culture du
e
C h a mpignon d e couch e en Fra n ce, edifiee a S a int-C yr !'Ecole. pres d e
V ersailles, p a r la Fed e ra tion fran <;:a ise d es producteurs d e champignons
(a la quell e je collabo re en qualite d e scientifique de I'lnstitut N ational de
d e la R ech erch e A gronomique), va avoi r d eux an s d'existence.
M on inte ntion n'es t p as ici d e vou s faire part d es tatonn em ents et dm
d es erreurs preluda nt souve nt a !'edifica tion d 'un programme d e rech er- ~
ch es . J e veux seulem ent vou s indiquer quell e orientation nos recherch es et
ont prise, quel choix nou s a vons fait p a rmi les problemes multiples que
po se la culture du ch a mpi gnon d e couch e. enfin , quelles m ethodes nous 6 r
em ployon s e t emploieron s pour a pporter notre pierre a !'edifi ce commun. ' en
A uparava nt, toute fois, je dirai quelques mots des experim enta tions
cntreprises dans le premi er cycl e de nos e ludes : me
1) Apres avoir inve ntori e les m a ti eres premi eres couramment utili · d'u
sees pour la culture du ch a mpi gnon d e couch e en France , nous avons tun
aborde d'un e fa<;:on plus inlim e le problem e d es terres d e gobetage. me
C ontinua nt les t rava ux d e MM. C H A P U IS e t C O U RTIEU. n o
ta mm e nt. nous avon s ch e rch e a d ecele r quelques caracteristiques physico· pa1
chimiques d es terrl:'s d e gobeta ge. de1
Sans m 'a tl a rder ~ ur ll:'s de ta il s d e nos essai s, je dirai seulem ent que um
nous avon s pu noter !'influen ce primordiale : de
de la ta ille d es p a rti cules consti tu a nt la te rn:~ ;
de la presence d e C03Ca ;
de Ia ca pa cite d e retention d e I' eau : ti o
d e Ia reaction (pH). tm

118